Epidemic of smallpox fells the Inca Huayna Cápac. Before his death, the Inca divided the empire in two, giving the northern territory to his son Atahualpa, and the southern half to his other son, Huáscar. Civil war ensues.

1530

Francisco Pizarro's third expedition leaves Panama and arrives in Tumbes.

1532

Atahualpa defeats his brother to gain control of the Inca Empire. Pizarro enters Cajamarca and captures Atahualpa, whom he jails. Atahualpa offers a ransom of gold and silver to win his release.

1533

Spaniards assassinate Atahualpa and name Topa Hualpa his successor (who serves as puppet Inca); Cusco is sacked and burned by Spaniards.

1535

Francisco Pizarro establishes Lima and makes it the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru.

1541

Francisco Pizarro is killed in Lima.

1572

Tupac Amaru, the last Inca emperor, is captured and executed.

1780

Tupac Amaru II, an Indian noble who claims to be descended from the final Inca emperor, leads a failed revolt against Spanish.

1821

General José de San Martín captures Lima and proclaims Peru's independence.

1824

Peru defeats Spain and becomes the last colony in Latin America to gain its independence.

1836-39

Peru and Bolivia join together in a short-lived confederation.

1849-74

Chinese workers numbering up to 100,000 arrive in Peru as menial laborers.

1866

Peru wins a brief war with Spain.

1870s

The rubber boom in the Peruvian Amazon begins.

1879-83

Chile defeats Peru and Bolivia in the War of the Pacific; Peru loses southern territory to Chile.

1884

Treaty of Ancón gives Chile the Peruvian province of Tarapaca.

1924

Victor Raúl Haya de la Torre sets up the nationalist American Revolutionary Popular Alliance (APRA) in exile in Mexico.

1941

Peru goes to war with Ecuador over the northern Amazon; the border dispute results in the 1942 treaty of Rio de Janeiro, which gives the land to Peru.

1945

Civilian government led by center-left APRA assumes power after free elections.

1948

A coup d'état installs a military government led by General Manuel Odría.

Peru enters into a border war with Ecuador over Cordillera del Cóndor (in Peruvian possession, according to the 1942 protocol).

1982

Debt crisis; deaths and "disappearances" escalate following a military crackdown on guerrillas and drug traffickers.

1985

APRA candidate Alan García Pérez wins the presidency with promises to rid Peru of its military and police "old guard." Belaúnde becomes the first elected president to turn over power to a constitutionally elected successor since 1945.

Hyperinflation and bankruptcy rock Peru; the country seeks assistance from the International Monetary Fund. Shining Path's guerrilla bombing and assassination campaign intensifies.

1990

Human rights groups estimate as many as 10,000 political murders (including thousands of campesinos) in Peru. Alberto Fujimori, son of Japanese immigrants, runs on an anticorruption platform and defeats the novelist Mario Vargas Llosa for the presidency. Fujimori institutes severe austerity measures and privatization programs.

1992

Citing continued terrorism, drug trafficking, and corruption, Fujimori dissolves Congress, suspends the Peruvian constitution, and imposes censorship. Shining Path leader Abimael Guzmán is arrested and sentenced to life in prison.

1993

A new constitution is adopted, allowing Fujimori to seek re-election.

1994

Six thousand Shining Path guerrillas surrender to authorities.

1995

Fujimori is re-elected to a second term. Fighting erupts again along the border with Ecuador.

1997

El Niño -- the worst of the century -- causes severe drought in Peru.

1999

Ecuador and Peru sign a treaty ending 6 decades of dispute over a section of the Amazon.

2000

Fujimori is re-elected by landslide to a third 5-year term; his opponent, Alejandro Toledo, charges fraud and withdraws from the election. Scandal erupts when Fujimori's chief of intelligence, Vladimiro Montesinos, is caught on videotape attempting to bribe an opposition politician. Fujimori, fending off charges of embezzlement and government drug trafficking, resigns and goes into exile in Japan. The Peruvian Congress declares Fujimori "morally unfit" to govern; it swears in Valentín Paniagua as interim president.

2001

A Peruvian judge orders Fujimori to appear in court on charges of dereliction of duty. Montesinos, the ex-spy chief, is captured in Venezuela. A plane carrying American missionaries is shot down over the Amazon by the Peruvian military. Alejandro Toledo becomes Peru's first president of native Indian origin and holds his ceremony at Machu Picchu. A massive earthquake rocks Arequipa and southern Peru. In December, a fireworks explosion in downtown Lima ignites a horrific fire that kills 290 people.

2002

Peruvian authorities issue a new international arrest warrant seeking to extradite former president Fujimori from Japan to face charges of corruption and human rights abuses in Peru. A Shining Path car bomb kills 10 people outside of the U.S. embassy in Lima days before Bush's visit to Peru.

2003

Farmers and teaches strike, prompting Toledo to declare a state of emergency. Shining Path terrorists stage two attacks. Toledo names the first female prime minister in a cabinet shakeup; 6 months later, in another reshuffling, he fires her. Interpol issues an arrest warrant for Fujimori, alleging involvement with paramilitary death squads. Congress requests Fujimori's extradition from Japan and issues new charges of arms trafficking, torture, and student disappearances.